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Family is complicated, everyone knows that. Whether you have a large extended family, or it is just you and your parents, the interpersonal dynamics are always difficult for anyone on the outside to understand. Though Netflix's adaptation of One Hundred Years of Solitude does a fantastic job of trying to be clear about each and every character within the Buendía family, this family tree is still one of the more complicated you'd ever see. With cousins marrying, extramarital children, and full of sons and daughters, Modern Family's family tree seems rather basic in comparison.
What's even more surprising is that the Netflix adaptation actually toned down the expansive Buendía family. For example, in the book by Gabriel García Márquez, Aureliano (as portrayed in the series by Jerónimo Echeverría Monsalve, Jerónimo Barón Lyentsova, Santi Vásquez, and Claudio Cataño) has 17 sons with 17 different women, with each one given the name Aureliano. Now, that would simply be too much for any viewer to understand, so maybe it's a good thing it was changed for the show. However, there is still a lot to learn about the Buendía family tree, so we recommend sitting down as we go through each way the characters are related.
José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán Are Cousins Who Have Three Children
From the very beginning of the show, the Buendía family tree is in disarray as José Arcadio Buendía (Marco González and Diego Vásquez) and Úrsula Iguarán (Susana Morales and Marleyda Soto) are cousins, which is why their parents do not approve of them getting married. Úrsula's parents even try to scare her with the idea that she will give birth to children that resemble iguanas, or with pig's tails. This is really what sparks everything, as it is what leads to José Arcadio Buendía killing Prudencio (Helber Sepúlveda Escobar) over a joke about a rooster sleeping with Úrsula, and the couple ultimately leaving their hometown in an attempt to escape his ghost.
However, the children born to these two are as ordinary as one would expect, with no features of an iguana nor a pig's tail like Úrsula believes they will have. José Arcadio Buendía and Úrsula Iguarán go on to have three children: José Arcadio (Thiago Padilla, Andrius Leonardo Soto, and Édgar Vittorino), who ends up leaving the village of Macondo and returning as a well-traveled pirate, Aureliano, a studious disciple of alchemy who later becomes a warmonger, and Amaranta (Luna Ruiz Jiménez and Loren Sofía), who seems destined to never find love and push away whoever comes close. What is rather impressive is that, despite the constant recasting as the story moves on year after year, we never get confused as to who these characters are at their core, as they are written so well and concisely.
José Arcadio and Aureliano Buendía Have Sons With Pilar Ternera
Image via Netflix The Buendía family tree begins to become more complicated with the birth of Arcadio (Juan Eduardo Florido and Janer Villarreal), who is the son of José Arcadio and Pilar Ternera (Viña Machado). Arcadio is born after his father has already left the village with the gypsies and, despite Pilar and Úrsula being friends, Úrsula only agrees to raise Arcadio on the condition that Pilar never enter their home again, and that Arcadio never know who his birth parents are. Pilar agrees, which leads to a very awkward moment years later when an adult Arcadio tries to have sex with her, unaware he is kissing his own mother. It's heartbreaking watching Pilar unable to be a mother to her son, and having to watch him becoming increasingly corrupted by power when he becomes the civil and military authority of Macondo. While Úrsula never really accepts Arcadio as a Buendía, this makes Arcadio her and José Arcadio Buendía's grandson, as well as Aureliano and Amaranta's nephew. The most tragic moment for Arcadio is when he is shot by the firing squad. José Arcadio watches his own son being killed, and Arcadio doesn't even know it.
Aureliano also has a son with Pilar, who is, again, brought to the Buendía house and named Aureliano José. Aureliano and his wife Remedios Moscote (Cristal Aparicio) raise him as their own until Remedios dies in childbirth, and Amaranta takes over as the boy's pseudo-mother after Aureliano goes off to war. This eventually leads to another disturbing interaction when Aureliano José tries to make advances on Amaranta who, seemingly because of her own loneliness, almost gives in, before pushing him away. What makes this even worse than Arcadio's pursuit of Pilar is that at least Arcadio didn't know it was someone related to him, whereas Aureliano's son knows that Amaranta is his aunt, but doesn't care. The last we see of Aureliano José is him leaving Macondo to join his father's army after being rejected by Amaranta.
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Rebeca Is a Distant Cousin of the Buendías
Image via Netflix Rebeca (Nicole Montenegro Sánchez and Akima) is brought to the Buendía household when she is very young, and it is explained that she is a distant cousin of the family whose parents have died, with Rebeca still carrying their bones in a sack that later gets hidden in the foundations of the expanding house. Therefore, we can assume she is some kind of removed cousin to all the members of the family. Amaranta is jealous of Rebeca, who takes the attention away from her and, when Rebeca grows up to be more beautiful and beloved by handsome pianola expert Pietro Crespi (Ruggero Pasquarelli), Amaranta swears to make Rebeca's life miserable by preventing a marriage between her and the Italian. Amaranta succeeds in this, but is only more infuriated when Rebeca chooses a newly-returned José Arcadio to marry instead of Pietro. The entire family, except Aureliano, rejects the idea of the two being married, claiming they are siblings. However, despite them being raised as such, it would appear they are distantly related rather than directly. Although Rebeca and José Arcadio's marriage is very passionate, they don't end up having any children together.
However, José Arcadio's son, Arcadio, does go on to have children with his own wife, Santa Sofía de la Piedad, and that's where the next generation of Buendías come from. However, these children have played very little part in the first season of One Hundred Years of Solitude, so there is not much to say about how they affect the wider family other than simply re-populating Úrsula's house after it became empty with her children either dying or moving out. No doubt these characters will have an even larger role to play in the upcoming second part of the series. Suffice it to say, the Buendía family tree is a bit of a mess and is actually toned down from the book. Even the show's version is still more complex than most. Still, One Hundred Years of Solitude does a fantastic job at making every interpersonal dynamic very clear, even if the relations are anything but.
One Hundred Years of Solitude is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.
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One Hundred Years of Solitude (2024)
One Hundred Years of Solitude (2024): Based on Gabriel García Márquez's acclaimed novel, the series chronicles the multi-generational story of the Buendía family in the fictional town of Macondo. As magical realism intertwines with historical events, the family's triumphs and tragedies reflect broader themes of love, power, and destiny.
Release Date December 11, 2024
Cast Eduardo De Los Reyes , Claudio Cataño , Jerónimo Barón , Marco González , Leonardo Soto , Susana Morales , Ella Becerra , Moreno Borja , Carlos Suárez , Santiago Vasquez
Main Genre Fantasy
Release Window 2024
English (US) ·